Item Link: Access the Resource
Date of Publication: January 19
Year of Publication: 2023
Publication City: Corvallis, OR
Publisher: Post Carbon Institute
Author(s): Richard Heinberg
Recent news articles about a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research heralded the potential for “limitless” energy. Whenever I read that word limitless I wince, because I’ve learned to view it as a subtle instruction to readers to “please stop thinking now.” After decades of false promises to deliver limitless energy, we need to start thinking instead, and search for limits both obvious and hidden. Doing so usually leads to a better understanding of how things really work.
Fortunately, several other writers have successfully refuted “limitless energy” claims regarding fusion, so it’s not necessary for me to do that here. However, it may be useful to explain more generally why the promise of limitlessness is misleading and sometimes deadly—and why limits are lovable after all.
Read the full article here.
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